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BBC programme investigates safety flaws at Sellafield nuclear site

Sellafield ‘riddled with safety flaws’, according to BBC investigation  Panorama programme claims there are numerous, potentially lethal safety flaws at the Cumbria nuclear plant Guardian, Ruth Quinn, 6 Sept 16, The Sellafield nuclear site is riddled with potentially lethal safety flaws, according to a BBC investigation.

The Panorama programme, broadcast on Monday night, uncovered a raft of safety issues on the site in Cumbria which stores almost all of the country’s nuclear waste.

The investigation was prompted by a whistleblower, once a senior manager in Sellafield, who revealed a litany of safety concerns including degraded infrastructure, improper storage of highly radioactive materials and chronic under staffing across the site……

The whistleblower said that his biggest fear for the site was for one of the nuclear waste silos to go up in flames – the consequences of which would be dire. He said: “If there is a fire there it could generate a plume of radiological waste that will go across western Europe.”

It was also revealed that swaths of the plant often do not have enough staff to meet basic safety levels. Investigators for the programme found that in the space of 12 months between July 2012 and July 2013, minimum levels of safe manning levels were routinely breached……..https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/05/sellafield-nuclear-plant-riddled-safety-flaws-according-bbc-panorama

September 7, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general